If you thought “cowboy” and “chic” do not belong together in the same sentence, think again my friend!

I’ll start you off by telling you my favorite line April used when describing her and Justin’s upcoming wedding to me. She said, “I’m thinking of this as more of a big barbeque, than a wedding”. After hearing that, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this wedding!

As it turns out, I found that I (Breanna), really do love big barbeques that also happen to be weddings!

You not only have the opportunity to wear comfortable shoes at the wedding…

…use unique decorations…

(If you like the Cowboy Chic feel and want to see more of April and Justin’s AMAZING decor ideas, then you have to check out the rest of their photos here.)

….and have way more line dancing than I ever knew existed….

….but you also get the opportunity to actual enjoy your own day because you’re so relaxed and aren’t stressing about anything!

Even with all those great aspects of April and Justin’s wedding, my truly favorite part was that they chose to have it in the same little town that Scottie and I had our wedding at 8 years ago, Pinetop, Arizona!

Pinteop is a place where it’s hard to have anything BUT a chill wedding, because it’s such a calm little town in the mountains. So I may be biased, but I think April and Justin chose the perfect place for their laid-back wedding/barbeque!

There was zero and I mean, ZERO stress on April’s part. She was laughing and partying with the best of them instead of worrying about where each person was or where each decoration wasn’t.

I really do think April and Justin found the key to a stress free wedding. And that key is called “cowboy chic”.

(A flask toast during the ceremony!)

(Tag yourself in the photos on our Facebook page to help spread April and Justin’s wedding around for more people to see!)

Now, you’ll notice that I’m not just saying plain “cowboy”. I’ve added the chic in there for a good reason because this wedding wasn’t all manure and dusty wranglers… this was a wedding with some real chilled out class!

It might have been viewed as a barbeque by the bride and groom, but it was still a wedding and they chose to treat it as such in all the right ways (pretty decor, a beautiful wedding dress, etc, etc), while ignoring some of the wrong ways (turning into bridezilla, being sleep deprived for months… or years.. before, etc, etc).

So April and Justin, I have to say that I think you really have this whole wedding thing down! Which makes sense, considering April did plan weddings for a living in Colorado!

Congratulations you two! We hope the rest of your marriage is as fun as the wedding day was!

When I think back to Cherish and Matt’s wedding, I remember a lot of things very fondly.

There was their incredible venue, Condor’s Nest Ranch, which is one of our (Scott and Breanna’s) all time favorite places to shoot.

We love all that Condor’s Nest has to offer in terms of different places to shoot, but we were determined to give Matt and Cherish a look that you don’t typically see at CNR, so we spent our time on some more out of the way spots.

And if you know Cherish and Matt, you know they were more than happy to accommodate and go for as full on unique as they could get!

Another thing that stands out when I reflect back on Cherish and Matt’s wedding day is their ceremony.

It was the perfect blend of a Christian and Jewish ceremony to reflect the joining of two different people into one. Cherish and Matt also included something in their ceremony that we have never in all of our wedding photography experiences seen… time for a group photo!

And how could I get away from writing about Cherish and Matt’s wedding without mentioning the incredible style you see up there at the alter!

(His favorite part were their gorgeous flower petals that sprinkled the ground!)

I was stunned when I saw the way that Cherish chose to contrast the outdoorsy feel of Condor’s Nest Ranch by choosing full on antique style bridesmaid dresses!

I (Breanna) loved them when I first saw them, but I found I liked them even MORE when I saw them up at the alter all together! They’re just so stunning aren’t they?!

(Help spread Cherish and Matt’s wedding to the masses by liking yourself in the photos on our Facebook page!)

Though all this and more comes to mind when I reflect back on Matt and Cherish’s wedding, there is one thing that stands out far above the rest that I have neglected to mention, and that is the music of their wedding.

The reason it was so amazing is not just because of the songs they chose (though those were amazing and chosen from movies to represent their mutual love and careers), but the real magic in the music of their wedding came from the performers delivering it to us! There were SO many live performances and each one blew me away as much as the one before it!

Matt performed a surprise song for Cherish that was met with many cheers and tears. Then there was Matt’s sister who performed a BEAUTIFUL solo piece that stunned all with her to-die-for voice! Even the band that Matt and Cherish hired (The Wild Reeds) was a major topic of conversation heard around that night!

Then there was one other piece of live performance that took me by complete surprise and that was when Matt’s thank you speech turned into a group sing/dance along to the music of “Shout”!

I’ve never seen anything like it and I will never forget the looks on all the cheering crowd as they joined in with Matt’s musical speech!

So Cherish and Matt, sure your venue, ceremony, style, and music were things to be remembered, but even above all of that, the thing I will remember the very most from that day is the two of you and how much we loved being there alongside you as you celebrated this momentous time in your lives.

We were thrilled to be a part of it and couldn’t have been happier to witness two people who we’ve grown to love so much in such a short period of time, commit to love one another for the rest of their lives. You guys rock and we’re so happy for you… and for the fact that we’ve found two wonderful new friends! Congrats!

Every wedding that we (Scott and Breanna) attend has it’s own special blend of moments, and it’s our job to capture them not as separate pieces, but in a way that molds them together to form the larger story they tell.

Like our other weddings, Lisa and Ted’s was a series of beautiful and memorable moments, all linked together to create their story. But unlike other weddings, the moments that made up Lisa and Ted’s story were wonderfully and uniquely them.

If I had to choose, I’d say that my favorite of their many moments were the emotionally expressive ones. Good thing too, because there were a lot of those!

Their reveal moment alone contained more of those beautiful emotional moments than I could include in this single post!

(Click here to find out some of the reasons Lisa and Ted chose to see one another before the ceremony!).

Of course their ceremony itself had it’s fair share of amazing moments as well!

And not to be left out, the reception held it’s own in the emotional moments department!

As is true in any good story, there were many different kinds of wonderful moments on that day, and there were equally as many different types of emotions to suit the various moments! Everything from serious and tearful, to joyful and celebratory were present and accounted for that day.

(I LOVE this one of Ted and his mom practicing their dance in the kitchen while everyone just goes about their business!)

As in any Radiant Photography wedding (especially those held at Condor’s Nest Ranch!), there were also moments of picture time that demanded to be shown off to you as a part of Lisa and Ted’s story… and as a part of our own story!

Lisa and Ted, thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of your story. Not only was it an incredible one that anyone would’ve been happy to be involved in, but it was also a very special one to the two of you, which makes it all the more meaningful that you chose us to be a part of it and trusted us to capture it for you.

Do you believe in the perfect couple? If not, then you haven’t met Rachael and Aaron!

Because they are it!

Don’t believe me? Just ask anyone who knows them!

I say that because just being at their wedding for one second would tell you that this was a true celebration! I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a group of people more thrilled to be part of a couple’s union!

It was obvious that this was a big day not just for Rachael and Aaron, but for all their loved ones who’d been waiting for this day right along side them.

All of that led to finishing out the night with the kind of high energy reception that you’d expect from such a huge celebration!

(The bell ringing is a cultural tradition for them!)

Emotions were high and tears of joy were flowing all day and night!

And not just from the couple themselves, but from everyone around them!

And I will have to admit that one of those joyful tears MIGHT have come from me (Breanna).

You see, Rachael and Aaron’s friends and family weren’t the only ones celebrating, Scottie and myself (Breanna) were as well because her wedding wasn’t the first thing Rachael called us for… it all started with her senior pictures!

Our pictures aren’t the only thing has changed over the years! Our girl is all grown up now and getting married!

It’s so incredible for us to be a part of so many amazing moments in the history of a family (we took Rachael’s sister, Sarah’s senior photos as well!).

Thank you to Rachael, Aaron, and family for choosing to include us once again in one of your beautiful family moments. It’s such a privilege and a joy for us! Plus, you guys throw a great party, so it was a bonus to get to be there for that as well!

Congratulations Rachael and Aaron! We can’t wait to be there celebrating your future major moments in this new life you’re starting together!

Is there anything better than being a part of a wedding for a family member you love?!

Well yes, there is one thing that’s even better than that and that’s watching a wonderful little girl get a new family.

Amy and Anthony’s wedding contained both of those amazing aspects! Amy is my (Breanna’s) cousin and I’ve had the privileged of watching Amy grow up through the good and the bad in life, work so hard at being the best mom around, and struggle to find the perfect man to be a part of her and her daughter Tatum’s life.

And I can tell you, it was more than exciting to see the results that came about once Amy and Anthony found one another and began the process of forming a family together as they prepared to head down the aisle to make it official at their Florence Windmill Winery wedding.

I’ve been to A LOT of weddings at this point, but I have yet to see a wedding more emotional than this one was for every single person in attendance.

People who are normally pretty even keeled emotionally… cried at this wedding. People who are not sure what they think about the institution of marriage…. cried at this wedding. The tons of people who always cry at weddings… cried at this wedding.

Of course myself who has been a part of Amy and Tatum’s lives since they were both born… cried at this wedding. I think even Mr. Manly Man Scottie will even admit to shedding a tear or two!

There was just no way of getting around the water works as you watched Tatum head up to the alter to join Amy and Anthony for a sand ceremony and family prayer.

And just as you began recovering from the initial tear flow, the reception started and Tatum got on the microphone for her speech congratulating Amy and Anthony… and the tears started all over again.

Then right when you’d finally fixed all your smudged eye makeup after the speech, Tatum and Anthony got up for their “new father daughter dance” right after Amy and her dad had their dance… and the tears started all over again!

Of course, these weren’t sad tears running down all of our faces, they were tears that were moved by joy. And as the night went on, the joy spilled over more and more as it moved from our tear ducts to our dancing feet.

It couldn’t be contained. This was one group of crazy happy people!

And Scottie and myself were so happy to be right in the mix of it all.

Amy and Anthony, it was such an honor to be not just family members at your wedding, but to be involved in capturing all your memories as well. Thanks for trusting us with such an important task, it means the world to us.

Congratulations again on your wedding, we can’t wait to see where the 3 of you go from here!